Tuesday and i am looking at the one lone piece of Pan de Sal left from last Tuesday's batch.
Yup, this is one week old, and i just ate one piece for breakfast yesterday, and one again last night. Was it dry? Did i toast or reheat the bread? Nope. No time to go down at 9 pm while watching the Mets, oooh, i was also home alone so i did not want to turn on the lights and yank the toaster on. Creepy.
So there i was munching on the Pan de Sal which i had previously filled with a slice of light cheddar, and i was really smiling. First, it is warm in New York, not exactly the kind of temperature that is conducive to extended food preservation, in short, almost lahat ng pagkain sa bahay madaling mapanis. During winter, we just leave the food on the table or in the pantry, marinate your chicken and just put it covered on the pantry shelf. Summer pretty much clogs your refrigerator and freezer kasi lahat ng pagkain dapat naka ref or freezer or else, pati kanin nasisira.
So this Pan de Sal, minus the preservative is a huge help. I hate heating up the toaster although i love Paninis, but when you are tired (i baked 5 apple pies yesterday), your body just shuts down and you want to rest that back. Do you think i will get up to heat one piece of Pan de Sal? But nobody wants to eat a dry, hard bread either. So to have a soft bread such as this one, (i am quite saving it really because i am a late night snacker)is a treat.
I baked this Pan de Sal last Tuesday for my family's trip to Canada, plus some cookies to munch on a long 8 hour trip via Buffalo. I did not go with them, i think one wedding party is enough for me, the horror of attending one still sticks to my mind and i want to live long still. ha ha ha Kidding aside though, Pan de Sal is always a mind pleaser, perfect pasalubong and merienda don't you think? So i made just one kilogram, and took 5 pieces for me to snack on when i get hungry.
Just a ziploc bag, clean and fresh from the box. Do not store in paper bags because air can still get in and you will end up with a rock hard bread in just 2 days.
I removed them from the plastic for you to see, tops do not have any traces of amag or mold, and the breads are still yummy to eat. Find out how you can get started baking Pan de Sal from my website, www.breadmakinglessons.com.
For starters i cannot make this Hard Monay if i did not bring any 3rd class flour or soft weak flour to New York. Once i ran out of 3rd class and tried Cake Flour, it turned bad, do not even think of using All Purpose, it will be soft but not chewy as this one made with yes, 3rd class indeed. So third class is hard to find here in the US if you will use that term. You have to say or look for soft wheat flour, that's it, not hard wheat flour, not cake or All purpose but something in between these two. It is easy to find in the Phil., just ask your local bakery suppliers and they know it is Tercera. Tercera is not for bread, bakers use it basically for cookies, cakes and other pastries, but we bakers know how to create bread recipes using part of this flour with the bread flour or hard wheat flour. It makes a softer version of any of your fave breads, with a cheaper price tag. Plus if i own a bakery, i get to use the third class for my cakes and cookies, lowering my food cos...
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